Manchuria, also called the Northeast, Chinese (Pinyin) Dongbei or (Wade-Giles romanization) Tung-pei, formerly Guandong or Guanwei,
historical region of northeastern China. Strictly speaking, it consists of the modern provinces (sheng) of Liaoning (south), Jilin (central), and Heilongjiang (north). Often, however, the northeastern portion of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also is included. Manchuria is bounded by Russia (northwest, north, and east), North Korea (south), and the province of Hebei (southwest). The Chinese call Manchuria the Northeast or the Northeast Provinces. Before the 1860s the Manchuria area also included those territories north of the Amur River (Heilong Jiang) that China’s Qing government ceded to Russia by the Sino-Russian Treaty of Aigun (Aihui) in 1858 and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing in 1860.

Manchuria to about 1900

Prior to the 17th century, the history of Manchuria was shaped by three converging ethnic groups: the Chinese, the people collectively known as the Tungus, and the Mongols and Proto-Mongols. The Tungus (from which several groups emerged) were forest and plain dwellers who had a mixed economy of agriculture, fishing, hunting, and livestock breeding. Those in Manchuria were known in various historical periods by such names as Sushen, Yilou, Fuyu, Mohe, Juchen (Nüzhen), and, finally, Manchu (Manzhou, or Manzu). The Mongols and Proto-Mongols were nomadic pastoralists who occupied the grasslands of the eastern rim of the Mongolian Plateau and the eastern slope of the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range. They were known by such names as Xianbei, Wuhuan, Shiwei, Khitan (Qidan), and Mongol. The agricultural Chinese migrated from the north of China to cultivate the soil of the rich Liao Plain in southern Manchuria. The successive hegemonies and kingdoms in Manchuria resulted from violent clashes among these ethnic groups.

Prehistoric Manchuria was the eastern terminus of a natural highway for nomadic peoples who moved across the great Eurasian plain from the Volga River to the Korean peninsula. As early as 1000 bce, certain Manchurian tribes are mentioned in Chinese sources. The earliest settlement of Chinese colonies in southern Manchuria began about the 3rd century bce. Chinese immigration into southern Manchuria accelerated during the following centuries: in the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) some Manchurian lands were overrun by the Han, who organized those conquered territories into military commanderies. During the chaotic period following the collapse of the Han empire, China was able to maintain only a loose hegemony over Manchuria.

Under the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, China was able to reassert some control over south Manchuria. In the late 7th century Manchuria’s pastoral Tungus peoples asserted their independence, founding in 698 the Zhen kingdom, which became the Bohai kingdom in 713. Centred in the modern province of Jilin, Bohai at its height covered nearly the whole of Manchuria and northern Korea. With the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, the Mongol subgroup known as the Khitan gradually gained ascendancy in Manchuria and began expanding south against China and west against the Turkic nations. In 926 the Khitan forces overthrew Bohai. At the height of its power, the Khitan empire under its reigning Liao dynasty occupied practically the whole of Manchuria, part of northern Korea, part of North China, and the greater part of the Mongolian Plateau.

In the late 11th century there ensued a marked decline in the administrative efficiency and military prowess of the Khitan empire. The non-Khitan subjects staged frequent rebellions against their overlord. Of particular importance among these rebels were the Juchen tribes, a group of Tungus peoples who lived beyond the Liao frontier but were in a tributary relationship to the Liao court.

In 1115 Aguda, the paramount chief of the Juchen, signalized the drastic decline of Khitan power by proclaiming the establishment of the Jin kingdom. An alliance between the Juchen Jin kingdom and the Chinese Song dynasty succeeded in destroying the Liao empire in 1125. After the destruction of their common enemy, the Jin turned against the Song. In 1127 the Juchen sacked the Song capital, and the Song court retreated to the south, where it existed as the Nan (Southern) Song dynasty. The Juchen decided to incorporate the occupied Song territory into their own domain, and in 1152 their capital was moved from Manchuria to Yanjing (modern Beijing). By then, however, the formidable Jin military machine had become moribund and was an easy prey to the Mongols, who rose to power in the Mongolian Plateau in the 12th century.

In 1211 the Mongols invaded Jin under the leadership of the great Genghis Khan, and by 1234 Jin had succumbed to the combined pressure of the Mongols and the Song Chinese. Occupying the whole of Manchuria, the Mongols made it one province, the Liaoyang. In 1280 the Mongols completed the conquest of China, having already established the Yuan dynasty. Eventually, however, the Mongols’ harsh rule precipitated a series of rebellions among the Chinese, who overthrew the dynasty in 1368. The victorious Chinese established a native dynasty (the Ming), pursued the Mongols into the steppes, and reinstituted Chinese rule over the Liaodong Peninsula.

During the 15th and 16th centuries the Mongols regained their strength and began pressing upon the Chinese frontier. As a result, the Ming position in Manchuria gradually deteriorated, and by the 17th century the Juchen were strong enough to challenge the Ming rule. It was the Jianzhou tribes under the leadership of Nurhachi (1559–1626) who succeeded in forging a new and greater Juchen empire. Beginning in 1583, Nurhachi led a series of campaigns that ultimately brought all the Juchen tribes under his control. In 1616 he was proclaimed han (“emperor”) by his subjects and allies. Nurhachi named his dynasty Jin, sometimes called the Hou (Later) Jin, in an attempt to rekindle the desire for imperial greatness among the Juchen people. After Nurhachi’s death, his son and successor, Abahai, continued the task of territorial expansion. When Abahai died in 1643, Manchu arms had been carried east into Korea, north into the Amur and Ussuri (Wusuli) river valleys, west to Inner Mongolia, and south to the Great Wall. Abahai adopted the name Manchu for his people and changed the dynastic designation from Jin to Qing. In 1644 the Manchu, with the help of dissident Chinese, established themselves as the new rulers of China. Qing dynastic rule of China lasted until 1911/12.

Although the Chinese had colonized the Liao Plain more than a thousand years before and had made it a centre of Chinese cultural influence, they had never been able to secure a foothold in central and north Manchuria, which remained predominantly a preserve of tribal groups. Paradoxically, it was during the period of Manchu ascendancy that the Chinese succeeded in penetrating the Sungari and Amur valleys. Until 1688 the Qing government encouraged Chinese immigration to Liaodong in order to revive its economy. After 1688 Chinese immigration was restricted. But the Manchu soon had to modify their exclusion policy when they were forced to strengthen the thinly spread Manchu garrisons in the Amur River valley with Chinese recruits to counter the eastward march of Russian power in the area. Manchuria’s natural resources attracted an unending stream of land-hungry peasants and other voluntary Chinese immigrants to Manchuria, despite the official ban. The flow of immigration became a flood tide in the 19th and 20th centuries as the Qing government actively sponsored planned colonization of virgin lands in Jilin and Heilongjiang. The growing Chinese presence helped the Manchurian economy develop from primitive self-sufficiency to an important centre of international trade. The great Manchuria frontier was thus inexorably Sinicized by Chinese colonists: the non-Manchu Tungus tribesmen of the Ussuri and Amur valleys declined in number year after year, and the Manchu soon merged imperceptibly into the Chinese population.

Manchuria since c. 1900

Russo-Japanese War: Japanese warship in actionLibrary of Congress, Washington, D.C.In the closing decades of the 19th century, foreign powers, particularly Russia and Japan, began to eye Manchuria as a fruitful field for imperialist expansion. The conflict between Russia and Japan for the control of Manchuria first raged over the possession of the Liaodong Peninsula. As the prize of its victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, Japan demanded from China the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula. But Russia, backed by France and Germany, compelled Japan to abandon this claim. By means of intrigue and intimidation, Russia then (in 1898) acquired from China a 25-year lease of the Liaodong Peninsula and the right to build a connecting railway from the ports of Dairen (Dalian) and Port Arthur (Lüshun) to the Chinese Eastern Railway. The clash of Russian and Japanese interests in Manchuria and Korea led to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. After its defeat, Russia ceded to Japan all its interests in southern Manchuria.

After the Chinese Revolution of 1911, Manchuria came under the nominal control of the local warlordZhang Zuolin, who was forced to grant the Japanese vast concessions in the region in return for their tacit military support. The notorious Twenty-one Demands that Japan presented to China in 1915 compelled the Chinese to extend Japan’s lease on the territory of Kwantung (Pinyin: Guandong; at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula) for 99 years and to grant the Japanese far-reaching civil and commercial privileges in Manchuria. During the Chinese civil war Japan exercised a controlling influence in south Manchuria with the support of its Kwantung Army.

The overambitious Zhang Zuolin ran afoul of the Japanese and was assassinated in 1928. His more patriotic son and successor, Zhang Xueliang, ignored Japanese warnings and decided to cast his lot with the Nationalist government in Nanjing. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese military forces attacked the Chinese barracks in the city of Shenyang, and by the next day the Japanese had occupied the city. The Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang) government in Nanjing chose not to resist the Japanese, as they were ill equipped to mount a full-scale war against Japan and their support base was weak. This response enabled the Japanese to occupy all of Manchuria within five months.

On March 9, 1932, the Japanese created the puppet state of Manchukuo (Pinyin: Manzhouguo) out of the three historical Manchurian provinces. The last Qing (Manchu) emperor, Puyi, was brought to Manchuria from his retirement in Tianjin and made “chief executive,” and later emperor, of the new state. The Manchukuo government, though nominally in Chinese hands, was in fact rigidly controlled and supervised by the Japanese, who proceeded to transform Manchuria into an industrial and military base for Japan’s expansion into Asia. The Japanese took over the direction, financing, and development of all the important Manchurian industries, with the fortunate result that by the end of World War II Manchuria was the most industrialized region in China. Manchuria was a land under Japanese colonial rule from 1932 to 1945. After the fall of Manchuria, many former Manchurian soldiers, aided by armed civilians, cooperated with the Chinese communist underground in organizing a vast anti-Japanese guerrilla movement.

At the Yalta Conference of February 1945, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin demanded the restoration of all former Russian rights and privileges in Manchuria as a price for Soviet entry into the Pacific war, an offer readily accepted by his fellow Allied heads of state. In May 1945, Soviet troops began to move from Europe to Asia. On August 8 the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria early on August 9. By August 15 the war was over, however. The next day the Manchukuo emperor Puyi was captured by the Russians. Having struck a good bargain for joining the war, the Soviets now plundered Manchuria as a conquered territory, systematically confiscating food, gold bullion, industrial machinery, and other stockpiles.

To the Nationalist government the political damage of the Soviet occupation of Manchuria was even greater than the economic ravages. Under the protection of the Soviet army, the underground Chinese communist guerrillas there united with communist forces from North China to form the United Democratic Army. Equipped with Japanese arms turned over to them by the Russians, the communist force occupied much of Manchuria. Nationalist progress in taking over the major Manchurian cities was slow. The United States, the major supplier of arms and equipment to the Nationalists, at first had discouraged the Nationalists from military intervention in Manchuria, opting instead to sponsor negotiations aimed at peacefully resolving the differences between the Nationalists and communists. These talks failed. By June 1946 the Nationalists had occupied Changchun, but by then the communists were well established in the countryside. Nearly 500,000 of the elite Nationalist troops found themselves surrounded by communists in Changchun, Shenyang, Jinzhou, and Yingkou. By the end of 1948 most Nationalist forces in Manchuria had been defeated—a prelude to the Nationalists’ loss of the entire Chinese mainland to the communists in 1949.

The communist rehabilitation of the Manchurian economy began with land reform in 1946, and by the end of 1949 all the lands had been redistributed among the peasants. The power of the landlords was eliminated. Industrially, the initial task of the communists was to reconstruct industrial plants so that Manchuria could serve as a major base for the further industrialization of China. During the First Five-Year Plan of 1953–57, what is now called Northeast China received the bulk of Chinese industrial investment. Today it is still one of the industrial heartlands of China.

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